Action planned on national PSA testing guideline
4th Oct 2011 Catherine Hanrahan all articles by this author
THE
heated debate about PSA testing is set to intensify, with plans
underway to develop a consensus document offering Australia’s first
national advice on early detection of prostate cancer.
Cancer Australia CEO Dr Helen Zorbas said experts and key stakeholders would be consulted to develop evidence-based advice and “the NHMRC would be involved in the process”.
“Cancer Australia... undertakes regular surveillance and monitoring of the cancer research evidence to develop advice and inform practice and policy,” Dr Zorbas told MO.
“Consistent with this activity, we will review and analyse the evidence about early detection of prostate cancer.”
Confirmation of plans for a national guideline coincided with a call last week from Professor Bruce Armstrong from the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health for an “organised approach to prostate cancer screening”.
While key stakeholders – the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) – rejected the idea of a national screening program, they agreed there was a need for uniform protocols governing PSA testing.
RACGP spokesperson Professor Chris Del Mar – a public health specialist from Queensland’s Bond University – backed a move for national consensus.
“I personally think it’s time for the NHMRC to take a leadership role in this,” Professor Del Mar said.
He said the RACGP Red Book advice on PSA testing would change if different recommendations were reached by a consensus committee, but he added, “it should be evidence based”.
Speaking at the Public Health Association of Australia conference in Brisbane last week, Professor Armstrong called for the current ad hoc testing to be replaced by an organised approach.
Australia already had a “de facto” prostate cancer screening program, given that the rate of PSA testing was similar to mammogram and Pap smear screen rates, he said.
“The way things are happening at the moment out there – with a high degree of variability, no guidelines – means it is pretty unlikely that under present circumstances the benefits [of PSA testing] are exceeding the harms,” Professor Armstrong said.
USANZ president Dr Stephen Ruthven said they were not advocating government-funded screening for all, but believed men should be educated about the pros and cons of the test.
Dr Anthony Lowe, CEO of the PCFA, said there was currently insufficient evidence for a national prostate cancer screening program but more research about this was needed.
Cancer Australia CEO Dr Helen Zorbas said experts and key stakeholders would be consulted to develop evidence-based advice and “the NHMRC would be involved in the process”.
“Cancer Australia... undertakes regular surveillance and monitoring of the cancer research evidence to develop advice and inform practice and policy,” Dr Zorbas told MO.
“Consistent with this activity, we will review and analyse the evidence about early detection of prostate cancer.”
Confirmation of plans for a national guideline coincided with a call last week from Professor Bruce Armstrong from the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health for an “organised approach to prostate cancer screening”.
While key stakeholders – the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) – rejected the idea of a national screening program, they agreed there was a need for uniform protocols governing PSA testing.
RACGP spokesperson Professor Chris Del Mar – a public health specialist from Queensland’s Bond University – backed a move for national consensus.
“I personally think it’s time for the NHMRC to take a leadership role in this,” Professor Del Mar said.
He said the RACGP Red Book advice on PSA testing would change if different recommendations were reached by a consensus committee, but he added, “it should be evidence based”.
Speaking at the Public Health Association of Australia conference in Brisbane last week, Professor Armstrong called for the current ad hoc testing to be replaced by an organised approach.
Australia already had a “de facto” prostate cancer screening program, given that the rate of PSA testing was similar to mammogram and Pap smear screen rates, he said.
“The way things are happening at the moment out there – with a high degree of variability, no guidelines – means it is pretty unlikely that under present circumstances the benefits [of PSA testing] are exceeding the harms,” Professor Armstrong said.
USANZ president Dr Stephen Ruthven said they were not advocating government-funded screening for all, but believed men should be educated about the pros and cons of the test.
Dr Anthony Lowe, CEO of the PCFA, said there was currently insufficient evidence for a national prostate cancer screening program but more research about this was needed.
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